About
"Vince Clarke had left Depeche Mode, the band he had helped to form and take into the charts, in 1981, after penning most of the 'Speak And Spell' album.(...) Alison had reached a similar crossroads with her R&B covers band The Screaming Abdabs, trawling the same Essex circuit and rarely reaching London. (...)
In a brief but extraordinary career, Yazoo forged an unlikely partnership between electronics and the blues to create some of the most sublime pop music of the early Eighties. Vince Clarke and Genevieve Alison Moyet (otherwise known as Alf) were together as Yazoo little over a year (1982-3) but from the instant stardom of their debut single 'Only You' onwards they made records that captured the imagination of everyone from Smash Hits to the Daily Telegraph. Their albums 'Upstairs At Eric's' and 'You And Me Both' still define a time in pop history when experimentalism and creativity broke through commercial barriers and the most unlikely people could become pop stars. (...)
From their swan song onwards, Alison signed a prestigious solo deal and went on to more success with her album 'Alf', while Vince went on to form The Assembly with Eric. But Clarke's greatest success came after he auditioned Peterborough born Andy Bell in 1985 and found himself partnering another singer of wayward genius. Erasure were born, of similarly unlikely elements to those of Yazoo."
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